The First Havroun - Korra's Legend
by Steven Partridge
Summary: Fire, Water, Air, Earth; in the norn culture, the four Spirits of the Wild - Snow Leopard, Bear, Raven, Wolf - are associated with the four elements. Only the reincarnation of the first havroun can commune with all four spirits and maintain balance between the physical world and the Mists.


**Prologue**

**The Next Havroun**

**10 years ago...**

**Wayfarer Foothills, Southern Shiverpeaks:**

The sun shone brightly on the road that wound south through the Wayfarer Foothills from Cragstead to Hoelbrak, causing the snow drifts on either side of the road to shimmer like tiny diamonds. The winter air was bracing, and the clear skies made today the perfect day for traveling. So, this was the day that Tornok, elder of Cragstead, had chosen to take his wife, Svenna, and their daughter, Korra, to see the norn capitol of Hoelbrak.

As the three norn walked, the little girl rode atop her father's juvenile arctodus, Nara. Korra smiled, and her eyes flashed with purple light as she kicked the arctodus' sides and shouted, "Go, Nara! Go! Go!"

Immediately, a blast of wind came up from behind the arctodus and swirled around her, making her run twice as fast. Korra laughed with delight and began swiping her hands upwards, causing small, stone walls to jut up from the earth in the path of the arctodus. The animal jumped over each wall with speed and panic.

"Korra!" Tornok called after his daughter in frustration, "Don't do that! Come back here!"

The girl's enraptured giggles drowned the voice of her father. She closed her eyes, holding tight to the animal's fur and caused a wall that was bigger than the others to rise up in the animal's path.

"Korra!" Svenna shouted with concern, "No! She can't jump that high!"

Korra opened her eyes at the sound of her mother's words and realized she was right, but it was too late for the arctodus to stop now. Nara tried to jump the wall, but she couldn't jump high enough.

Extending her fist in a punch, a powerful blast of fire burst from the girl's hand, shattering the upper part of the wall. It still wasn't enough though, and one of Nara's back legs caught the top part of the wall, sending her and Korra falling rapidly to the ground.

Korra threw her arms over her face to brace for impact, and in response to her gesture, two of the snow drifts on the side of the road moved to cushion her and Nara's falls. The two landed in the pile, chilled but otherwise unharmed.

"She's _your_ daughter..." Svenna sighed to Tornok, thankful that her little girl was safe.

"I think you'll find her gifts as an elementalist come from _your_ side of the family." Tornok corrected, "_I_ come from a family of rangers and warriors."

As the two approached the snow-covered pair, Tornok addressed his daughter firmly, "Korra, how many times have I told you that if you want to ride on Nara, you can't take her jumping like that? She's still a pup, like you, and neither of you is experienced enough to be pulling stunts like that."

"But dad!" Korra protested, "If I _can_ do something, what's the big deal? We didn't get hurt." The girl shook her head back and forth vigorously to get rid of the excess snow in her hair, running her hands through her ponytail and brushing them over her bangs.

Tornok sighed, "What have we talked about? Just because you _can_ do something doesn't mean you _should_, right?"

Korra sighed and nodded her head in defeat.

Tornok knelt down and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "Listen, I know you're a very powerful elementalist, but those with magic have to learn discipline. Real power comes from control, not how much fire you can blast or how big of a rock wall you can make."

"But dad, I'm not afraid of magic! I wanna be a brave adventurer like you used to be!"

"Korra, controlling your magic isn't cowardly. It takes more bravery to know when _not_ to use magic than to sling spells around without any control. Do you understand?"

Korra kept her head down for a moment, then looked up with a determined smile and nodded resolutely, "Yeah!"

"That's my girl!"

"How touching!" laughed a gruff-voiced norn man as he emerged from behind a tree. His skin was pale white, a stark contrast to the dark-skinned family before him, and his hair was of a platinum-silver hue. "I didn't know that the havroun of Wurm had a family!" The man smiled darkly, "That will make this all the easier for us." He gestured with his hand, and five more pale-skinned, light-haired norn men emerged from hiding places just off the road.

"What would the Sons of Svanir want with my family?" growled Tornok.

"We have great plans for you, and we thought if we captured your family, it might persuade you to come and cooperate with us." the leader of the gang replied.

"I refuse to help you with anything, and you won't touch my family!" Tornok shouted angrily, drawing his greatsword as his eyes began to glow with blue-green light.

"We need your help to get into the Mists to establish Dragon's rightful place amongst the Spirits of the Wild!" the Dragon shaman explained, "I didn't want to involve the women, but if that's what's necessary..." The shaman smiled wickedly and gestured again with his hand, and the other Sons of Svanir descended on the family.

Three of them focused their assault on Svenna and Korra, magically slinging frost and ice at them. Svenna whipped out her scepter and focus and positioned herself between the attackers and her daughter, weaving the snow and ice assaults through the air, sending them back at their originators.

Then, her blue eyes flashed green as she gestured with her implements and caused boulders to carve themselves from the ground and fly toward the Sons. Each barrage of rocks hit its mark squarely in the chest, but Svenna did not relent. She gave her enemies no time to recover; her eyes flashed orange, and her hands became encircled with rings of flame. With might, Svenna slung large orbs of fire at the three men, catching their fur-lined coats aflame.

Meanwhile, Tornok engaged the shaman with Nara. As he issued commands to his pet, she responded quickly and precisely, grabbing the shaman's right hand that held his staff.

While the shaman struggled to escaped from the grab, he slung icy blasts at Tornok with his free arm. Tornok wove and dodged through the attacks and parried with his greatsword.

Very quickly, the shaman realized his mistake; they were outclassed by the husband and wife team. They needed some sort of diversion, anything to remove the pair's focus, if only for a moment. His eyes fell on the little girl who cheered for her mother with punching gestures.

"Go for the girl!" the shaman called out, "Grab her!"

The two other Sons immediately turned their attention from looking for an opportunity to strike to running toward the child.

"Korra! No!" Svenna cried, turning her attention to her daughter.

In response to Svenna's call, Tornok also turned. He saw his wife take a chunk of ice to the back of the head while her attention was averted. She fell.

"Svenna!" he called out.

That was the distraction the shaman needed. He blasted a wave of cold magic out from his location, sending the arctodus reeling back as its feet froze to the ground. Tornok's feet also froze to the ground, and the shaman delivered a blow to Tornok's back that sent him to the ground. The Sons immediately descended upon the two incapacitated people.

"Tie them up! We're taking them back to the cave!" the shaman ordered.

"No! Let them go!" yelled Korra as the five began to tie her parents' hands behind their backs. She blasted a burst of flame at the shaman as her eyes flashed orange.

"Get off me, brat!" the shaman scoffed, dismissing the puny attack with an icy gesture of his staff.

"No you don't!" Korra screamed, delivering a sharp kick to the shaman's shin.

The shaman growled with pain, "That does it! You need to learn some respect, whelp!" He smacked the girl squarely in the face, knocking her unconscious. "Pathetic _girl_!" the shaman spat.

As the Sons began to lift the husband and wife to their feet, Korra's eyes flashed open, enveloped with brilliant, purple-blue light. Svenna came to and gasped as she, Tornok, and the Sons watched in awe. Korra's form became enveloped in light, and the forms of the four Spirits of the Wild: Wolf, Snow Leopard, Raven, and Bear burst from the light, unleashed their feral cries, and then dove into the glowing girl.

As Korra spoke, her voice sounded like her own as well as the voices of the Spirits, speaking in magical echoes, "_**Release them now, norn!**_"

"By Dragon!" the shaman gasped, "What are you?" He and the other Sons released hold of the man and woman as they stepped backward.

"_**I am the Spirit of the first havroun. I am the avatar of the Spirits of the Wild. I am protection for the Mists. I am your doom!**_"

Snow, rocks, wind, and fire tornadoed around the girl. At the top of the spiral, the forms of the four Spirits of the Wild shifted amongst one another, composed of the four elements themselves. The child in the center began to rise into the air as she extended her hand. A stream of all four elements followed. As the girl separated her fingers, the stream split off into five waves that assaulted each of the Sons of Svanir, sending them flying backwards, unconscious.

Then, Korra's attention focused onto the shaman. "_**You are a traitor to the Spirits and to your people! You will be punished for your crimes.**_" As the tornado became more violent, the shaman's eyes widened with fear.

In a sudden, blinding burst-flash of light and power, the shaman vanished. Korra lie on the ground, unconscious. Her parents rushed over to her side, their hands free.

"What just happened?" asked Svenna, holding her daughter's head in her hands.

"We need to contact the Durmand Priory right away." Tornok said, looking down in awe at his daughter, "Our daughter is the reincarnation of the first havroun!"

**3 days later...**

**Cragstead, Wayfarer Foothills, Southern Shiverpeaks:**

The harsh winter blizzard over Cragstead assaulted the huts and lodges with torrential ice and snow. The piercing cold wind seemed like the spirit of Wolf himself now ran fiercely over the land, howling up at the hidden moon as his biting chill assaulted anyone foolhardy enough to brave the weather and trek out into the white that hid the blue-black night sky.

This night, five representatives from the Durmand Priory, led by Scholar Prott, braved the harsh winter storm toward the settlement, seeking to address a claim from a couple who lived in the town. Elder Tornok and his wife, Svenna, had sent word to the Priory three days earlier, claiming that their seven-year-old daughter had manifested an exceedingly unusual power, one that was said to only manifest once every thousand years. She had manifested as a havroun, but not of only one spirit; she had manifested a special connection with four of the Spirits of the Wild simultaneously.

As the party of five came up to the elder's hut, Prott knocked on the door. Tornok answered, ushering the group into his home.

"The Durmond Priory honors my family with this visit." he said graciously.

"We have heard rumors that your daughter is 'the one'." Prott said cryptically.

"Those rumors are true." Svenna nodded and called into the other room of the hut, "Korra, come in here, please!"

Immediately in a burst of earth, fire, wind, and water, the seven-year-old Korra burst into the room, making quite the impression of an entrance. As wisping forms of the four Spirits circled the girl, she performed a tornado of elements that dropped her safely in front of the awe-inspired visitors.

"I'm a havroun!" yelled the spunky girl as the spiraling spirits and elements faded, "So just deal with it!"


End file.
